February

2/4 Mars in conjunction with the Sun from Earth, in Capricornus. Earth in superior conjunction with the Sun as seen from Mars. This will impact communication with the Mars Explorations Rovers currently on the Red Planet.

April

4/14 Life on Mars: Tales from the New Frontier release. Jonathan Strahan’s anthology of original Mars themed science fiction short stories, including works by Kim Stanley Robinson, Cory Doctorow and Nancy Kress.

4/19 Robert Zubrin‘s birthday, founder of the Mars society and leading manned Mars mission advocate.

May

5/14-15 JPL open house in Pasadena, CA. Get up close with Mars rover tech/science and talk to some of the mission team. Previous years have allowed tours of the facility where Mars Science Lab Curiosity is currently being built (see my pics from the 2009 event).

June

6/2-4 University Rover Challenge at the Mars Desert Research Station in Hanksville, Utah. Design and build the next generation of Mars rovers that will one day work alongside human explorers in the field.